1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a method of fabricating a scale model of an object too small to be evaluated by conventional measurement techniques. More specifically, the present invention relates to a method for constructing a high-fidelity, disassembleable corporeal model of a minuscule object where said model provides significant accuracy of the differentiated characteristics of the object with respect to shape, materials structure and materials composition.
2. Description of the Prior Art
It is often necessary or desirable to create a scaled model of a given object for purposes of analysis, testing and education. A common example is seen in the testing of aerodynamic configurations for both land and air vehicles. In order to evaluate the aerodynamics of a wing or lifting body, for example, a small scaled model is constructed in the laboratory and then subjected to wind tunnel and other similar testing. To construct such a model, the engineering specifications for the full sized object are downsized and the model fabricated via conventional processes.
In cases where a model is constructed of an object for which there exists no construction or design specifications, such as a bone or a tooth, a model is sometimes made by forming a cast or negative impression of the object. The negative impression is then used to form a model. Disadvantages with this technique reside in its exclusive application to replicate the external physical details of an object, thereby rendering it useless to construct a model in which external and internal characteristics such as material structure, composition or function may be observed and disassembled for study or analysis.
In instances where it is necessary to construct a three-dimensional model of an internal biological structure without physical invasion of the body, e.g., a prosthesis, an image of the rough external and internal details of the object may first be obtained by use of X-rays. X-ray radiographs can then be used in conjunction with information of the structure previously known to construct the model. Such a technique is disclosed, for example, in U.S. Pat. No. 4,436,684, as issued to White. Such techniques, while oftentimes sufficiently accurate to form a prosthesis, do not generally enable the generation of a model which discloses differentiated shapes, compositions, material structure and/or functionality. This limitation is due to the nature of the X-ray medium which is limited to providing an image of materials which differ in their absorption coefficient to X-rays. Accordingly, only materials of varied density may be viewed and thus reproduced by such a method. Moreover, X-rays are generally useless to define details in objects which prevent the passage of X-rays, e.g., shielded or metallic objects.
Techniques heretofore used to construct a conceptual model of microscopic and especially submicroscopic objects such as molecules, living cells, minute electronic structures and the like, have relied upon crude approximations of their external shape. As a consequence, such models provide no more than a general representation of the characteristics of a given object and are therefore useless for purposes of quantitative evaluation.